Transparency Never Hurt Anybody

Improve a program’s effectiveness, efficiency, value-add and attractiveness by creating it with a large group of people.

Create everything in a fishbowl. That’s Stephanie Waite’s advice to learning leaders preparing to launch into the design, development and delivery of a new program or initiative.

“If you create something in a black box and deliver it, you’re going to get all your feedback on the back end, but you can save yourself the time,” said Waite, director of leadership and organizational development at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Improve a program’s effectiveness, efficiency, value-add and attractiveness by creating it with a large group of people. By inviting as many key stakeholders as one can to be part of the process, learning leaders can keep people up to date on their vision and ensure they feel like a part of it.

Everyone is invited to share their input, and while all of it may not be implemented, there’s going to be a “Yes, and,” Waite said, which invites new, potentially valuable insights. “Being open to feedback and inviting others into the process of development has been such an eye-opening and transformational experience for me.”